A Thursday Afternoon in January While on Sabbatical, and: Whaler

Abstract: "Whaler": is a queer love poem and an origin story for lesbian desire. The declaration the speaker makes for the love she has for her wife is rooted in the natural world. The whales and sea and astronomy that guide this queer love is unattainable yet hunted by man. "A Thursday Afternoon in January While on Sabbatical": is a narrative poem that tampers with memory as the speaker traces drug addiction in her and her family. While on a sabbatical the speaker's brother has a major surgery and the past floods into the present moment of his suffering and her recovery. Even when in recovery from addiction, there's no escaping it—the disease is always present in the speaker's life.